Secrets
by Sonic Serendipity
Summary: Kyle lets Declan know he has secrets, and maybe that's all he can hope for.


Title: Secrets

Author: Serendipity

Rating: K

Summary: Declan can keep secrets. (Declan&Kyle friendship, introspection)

Disclaimer: not mine, no money, no sue.

Pairing: n/a

Warning: None, really. Other than since I'm writing it it may suck. XD

Spoilers: Everything up to the S2 premiere, I guess.

A/N -First published on LJ- I saw the first ep of season two and wondered how the heck they were gonna explain that. I like the Kyle and Declan friendship, so the bunny made me write this. Half-hour off-the-top-of-my-head fic. :)

* * *

When Declan came to the Tregar's house at half past eight to return Lori's cell phone, nobody came to answer the door. He wasn't crazy about the idea of giving Steven Trager another reason to think he was a juvenile delinquent, but he reasoned that it wasn't breaking and entering if the door was unlocked. Which it mostly was. 

He entered quietly, ready to bolt if Mr. Trager came after him with a shotgun, and soon realized that the status quo had apparently changed since just that morning. There were voices coming from the dining room, cheerful voices conversing loudly and he thought he recognized one of them. With a slightly ominous feeling he pulled the door to and made his way to the dining room, where sure enough--

"Kyle!"

He looked up and his face instantly split in that damn disingenuous, boyishly delighted grin. "Declan, hey! What--"

"...are you doing here?" Lori glared at him suspiciously and he held her cell out like a shield. Her face relaxed in the apologetic smile that was the reason he sat through her little hissy fits. "Oh. Thanks."

"No problem." Declan braved the probable displeasure of Lori's parents--Mrs. Trager displeased at having family time interrupted, Mr. Trager at having his daughter's undesirable boyfriend present--and pulled up a chair near his odd friend. "How long you here for, Kyle? Or, um...Noah?"

Kyle snuck him a surreptitious glance. "Kyle is fine," he said quietly, and turned so his eyes took in the whole family. "I'm here for good, if you'll have me." The entire table exploded with a flurry of questions (and speculation--"I bet he's adapted to life on Earth and so he can't live on Krypton any more!") but he cut them off by smoothly raising his hands. Thrown by the unfamiliarity of that as much as the gesture itself they quieted, and he continued in a clear, no-nonsense voice; like someone who only wanted to say this once. Or someone who had rehearsed the whole speech. "It wasn't working out. I remembered some things...a boat with rainbow sails, the old law-foot tub..." he grinned cheekily at them. "The first time I cursed in Chinese and got grounded for a week. But it wasn't enough. They wanted that ten-year-old boy..." His voice roughened with sincerity. "And I wanted all of you."

The girls sniffled, the boys cleared their throats in the acceptably gruff, manly fashion, and just like that it was accepted. But Declan remembered that boat with rainbow sails too, and held his own counsel.

Some while later, just as he was leaving, Declan finally got a moment alone with Kyle. "Still trust me to keep your secrets?" He watched him casually out of the corner of his eye, and so caught the other teen's rueful smile.

"Of course. I mean," he corrected hastily, "there are plenty of secrets I can't tell ANYONE. But at least you know that I have them."

Declan snorted cynically, looking after the oblivious Tragers. "There's that, I guess." With a bit of wonder at himself, he turned to look at Kyle square on. "For someone who doesn't believe in it, you're a pretty amazing liar."

He shrugged. "I've always been told not to lie unless it's a matter of life and death--" another sidelong look. Another clue given and accepted. "It doesn't come naturally, but for them, if necessary, I can learn." He stared into nothing with a hard look Declan had never seen before. "I can learn."

"I believe you." There were Tragers close enough to start to hear, and he lowered his voice. "Listen, you need help with anything, you know where to find me, right? I suppose I owe you a window to crawl through and a tub to crash in."

Kyle smiled at him again, and it was lost in Lori's goodbye, but Declan caught his thanks anyway.

In his car five minutes later and yet to leave the neighborhood, he found himself staring at his To-Do list. He'd moved to cross 'return cell phone' off the list only to discover that he'd doodled that symbol on the paper--the one Adam Baylan had drawn, the one Kyle still unconsciously worked into most of his pictures.

It was easy, he decided, to be 'Un-Dog-Like' around Kyle, who subconsciously expected everyone's default state to be as giving and honest and noble as his own. But it was more than that. Declan stared at the symbol and thought harder than he was naturally inclined to think.

"I think it's the chance to be involved in something bigger," he told the symbol. "Something 'life and death'." He laughed at himself and put the car in gear. "Besides, every superhero needs a sidekick."


End file.
